


A Pine Cone, A Pebble, And Some Weeds

by Lady_Vibeke



Series: Cara Dune & Din Djarin: Tales of Two Space Idiots in Love [13]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Adopted Children, Adorable Baby Yoda, Din and Cara are Giant Softies, F/M, Family Feels, Gen, Love, Mother's Day, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:09:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24107269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Vibeke/pseuds/Lady_Vibeke
Summary: “Do you think we're doing a good job with him?”Cara blinked. Din's helmet was staring in the kid's direction; she could read his stream of thoughts as clearly as if it was being broadcast straight into her frequency.“You're doing anamazingjob, you stupid tin can,” she grumbled. She wanted to slap him every single time he doubted himself, but she was going to save that for once she would be able to do that directly across his face – which she was sure wasn't that attractive, anyway.Din turned to her, and Cara thought she knew what kind of objection was coming, but she was wrong.“You're doing great, too, you know?”[ It's Mother's Day on Naboo. The child observes and learns... and surprises someone with a special gift. ]
Relationships: Baby Yoda & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV) & Cara Dune, Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV) & Cara Dune & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), Cara Dune/The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)
Series: Cara Dune & Din Djarin: Tales of Two Space Idiots in Love [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1709416
Comments: 25
Kudos: 247





	A Pine Cone, A Pebble, And Some Weeds

**Author's Note:**

> The title is stupid but I honestly didn't know any better.
> 
> This is just a sulky little something I wanted to write for Mother's Day. It's short and simple, no big deal: just fluff and love.

It was Mother's Day on Naboo, apparently.

It was Mother's Day _everywhere_ on Naboo, even this minuscule village in the middle of the absolute nowehere in this green and backwater countryside.

Cara thought it was ironic that they'd stopped by today, of all days, since all three of them were orphans. It seemed cruel, especially for the kid, to be walking around the colourful market bursting with gaudy flowers and present ideas for mothers of all ages. Everywhere children were handing out gifts to their mothers and the baby had been watching each of them intently, occasionally glancing up at Din or Cara with an obvious question painted all over his wrinkly face.

“This is a day when kids give nice things to their mothers, to show them they love them,” Din had tried to explain, if a bit awkwardly. He had turned to Cara for help and she had just giggled at his panic with a little shrug, which had somehow melted some of the awkwardness away.

Neither Cara nor Din liked to talk much about their past or what happened to their families and homes. They were both wrecked people trying to take care of this adorable baby as best as they could, and sometimes they were both crushed by doubts and insecurities. Raising a happy kid required functional adults, and she and Din were nowhere near that. They were functional warriors – they were _extraordinary_ warriors – but functional adults? That was as far from them as it could get.

Functional adults would have been able to live together for over one year and find the guts, at some point, to admit they had caught feelings fot each other, which Din and Cara seemed particularly determined to ignore for the time being. Parenting was definitely not their top quality.

Cara sighed to herself as they sat down at a table by the lake with two bowls of stew.

The place would have been lovely, hadn't it been for all the over-festive decorations hanging between then trees and all across the market stalls. she was still morbidly sick from all the sugary smell she had had to endure while passing through the candy stalls.

It took her and Din a whole hour to convince the kid to finish his stew: he was so enraptured by the other children playing by the lake he could barely pay attention to the spoonfuls Din was struggling to feed to him.

“Just unleash him,” Cara groaned when the kid's bowl was reasonably close to empty. “He's been eating just to please you, all he wants is to go over there and play.”

It took some coaxing and a lot of imploring looks from the kid, but eventually Din agreed to let him toddle off to the water. It was right next to their table, literally within arm's reach: the only potential danger was for some innocent frog or fish being caught and devoured by their tiny green predator.

There were an awful lot of families around, probably due to the festivity and the beautiful weather gracing the day. The table next to theirs was occupied by a young mother whose three children had buried the tabletop under piles of wild flowers. They were eating and having the time of their lives together, it seemed, and Cara hated them a little for how obnoxiously _happy_ they looked.

Din was watching them, too, though he was pretending not to. Cara couldn't wait to get away from here, but the kid was having fun with the other children and, for once, she wanted him to be just like any of his peers, even if just for a little while. She was sure Din was feeling the same.

“Do you think we're doing a good job with him?”

Cara blinked. Din's helmet was staring in the kid's direction; she could read his stream of thoughts as clearly as if it was being broadcast straight into her frequency.

“You're doing an _amazing_ job, you stupid tin can,” she grumbled. She wanted to slap him every single time he doubted himself, but she was going to save that for once she would be able to do that directly across his face – which she was sure wasn't _that_ attractive, anyway.

Din turned to her, and Cara thought she knew what kind of objection was coming, but she was wrong.

“You're doing great, too, you know?”

Cara took a sip of her cyder, scoffing. He was just being kind. Even after such a long time, she still felt so clumsy around the kid. She didn't have it in her – motherhood – so she had no idea what she was doing most of the time, and she was probably a solid mess at that. But Din... Din was a wonderful father, and he deserved credit for that.

Before Cara could argue, the kid came back from the lake, his robe soaked up to his knees. He wobbled up to Din and showed him what he had brought: a handful of weeds, accidentally containing a crumpled yellow flower, and a wet pine cone.

Cara's heart filled with warmth before Din could even process what was happening.

The child pushed the weeds and the cone up, urging Din to take them, and, slowly, Din started to understand.

He glanced at the young mother at the other table, smiling encouragingly at him, and finally took the unexpected gift.

“Thank you,” he breathed. “They're beautiful.”

The child gave him a bright toothy grin and, tittering, scurried back to the lake.

Cara watched with a big smile as he started collecting more stuff. The warmth in her heart was still there, but something else was swelling in her throat. Her gaze fluttered to the weeds and the cone Din was still clutching between his fingers while he kept his eyes trained on the kid, still busy choosing random things to pick up here and there.

She swallowed the _something_ in her throat, smirking: “Looks like you're in for a gift hoard.”

It took a couple of minutes before the child came trotting back with another precious cargo. This time, however, he didn't go to Din. He headed toward Cara, instead, with a proud grin on his little mouth, and held out a new bunch of weeds and a purple pebble in her direction.

Cara froze.

“No, hey, I'm not-” she tried to push him toward Din. “You should-”

The child's ears drooped, but he still stubbornly pressed his booty to Cara's legs, cooing up at her with those irresistible huge brown eyes.

“They're for you,” said Din softly. “You should take them.”

“But-”

The baby reached up and Cara had no choice but to take him. He plopped down on her lap and placed his gifts into her hands, then rolled his head back to giggle at her.

“Mmamm... amm?”

There was a moment of silence that seemed to extend to the whole world surrounding them. Cara forgot how to breathe as her eyes went wide and her whole body stilled.

“What did you say?”

The baby tipped his head to one side and tried again: “Mmamm?”

A small, breathless laugh came from under Din's helmet.

“He just called you-”

“Shut up!” snapped Cara, feeling her cheeks burn. Her heart was doing funny things, too, swelling in her chest until she felt it hurt against her ribs.

“Mmamm?” the kid said again, tapping his chubby hands over hers to make them close over his present. Cara obliged. The something in her throat was back, but it was different: it wasn't chocking her, now; it felt... _good._

“Oh, kid,” she sighed. It was too much to take in all at once. But even though it was so sudden and also a bit scary, she couldn't deny it pleased her more than she dared to admit. “This is...”

Her sight blurred.

It was just _weeds._ Weeds and a stupid rock. What was wrong with her? Why did it feel so damn important?

The kid turned in her arms and and wrapped her into a goofy embrace that she couldn't help returning.

“Thank you,” she whispered above his fuzzy head. She was horrified when she felt a dangerous wetness pool at the corners of her eyes. She fought it back, sniffing lightly, then looked up, sensing a certain look upon herself.

“We're not talking about this,” she warned through her teeth, meeting Din's visor across the table. “ _Ever.”_

“I thought so,” he replied pleasantly. The slight tilt in his helmet revealed a chuckle only Cara could see. He would pay for this. Later, perhaps, away from all these people looking at them in absolute delight like they made the most perfect picture ever.

Din opened his hand to observe the pine cone and the weeds lying on his palm and Cara did the same with her own share of today's exceptional hunt.

There was definitely a smile in Din's voice as he said: “Happy Mother's Day to both of us, I guess.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> As I said, pure, gratuitous fluff! Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there, your human/furry/feathery/scaly babies are lucky to have you! <3
> 
> I'm a cat mum, so happy Mother's Day to me, too! :)


End file.
